A lot of people have been questioning this list or asking where their favourite games finished so here is the full Top 50: 50 - Rebel Star 49 - Starion 48 - Lunar Jetman 47 - Harrier Attack 46 - Star Quake 45 - Midnight Resistance 44 - Driller 43 - Fantasy World Dizzy 42 - Spy Hunter 41 - Head Over Heels 40 - Laser Squad 39 - Star Strike 38 - T.L.L. 37 - The Hobbit 36 - Dan Dare 3 35 - Match Point 34 - Star Wars 33 - The Way of the Exploding Fist 32 - Horace Goes Skiing 31 - Kikstart 2 30 - Batman 29 - R-Type 28 - Skooldaze 27 - Nether Earth 26 - Bubble Bobble 25 - Saboteur 24 - Lords of Midnight 23 - Emlyn Hughes Soccer 22 - Elite 21 - Match Day 2 20 - Commando 19 - Light Force 18 - Back To Skool 17 - Atic Atac 16 - Highway Encounter 15 - Robocop 14 - Bomb Jack 13 - Deathchase 3D 12 - Formula 1 Simulator 11 - Renegade 10 - Bruce Lee 9 - Sabre Wulf 8 - Turbo Esprit 7 - Knightlore 6 - Target Renegade 5 - Chase H.Q. 4 - Chuckie Egg 3 - Jetpac 2 - Jet Set Willy 1 - Manic Miner
Ye ar kung-fu, carrier command, ATV, CYCLONE???, football manager - the first football management game, Alchemist I could go on suffice to say I could easily think of 30 odd games to swap in this top 50 although I'm glad to see Renegade in the top 10
Wow, this video actually brought tears to my eyes. I remember going to town with my late younger brother, we were dead excited because we had our pocket money and all the way into town we were talking about which speccy game we were going to get. We got 2 in the end because both were 2 players, it was Matchday 2 and Target Renegade. We spent hours and hours playing it together. I miss him so much, he would have loved this video. 😓🙂
Indeed. I'm reasonably certain that I've spent well over 50% of my total playing (ok, gaming...) time with Elite. After reaching Elite rank I moved to Sentry, which is also not mentioned.
Never had Either for the Speccy, I was am Amstrad CPC boy myself... My Sisters had the Spectrum +2... And I played it more than them! But I must agree - ELITE not getting a mention is kind of a a surprise!!! Same with The Bards Tale for me as well... I had it on the CPC and WOW! WHAT A GAME!!!
Commando, Jet set willy, robocop, operation wolf, double dragon, blocks and. turbo esprit were my favourite games on the spectrum 48k. The noise when loading those games still haunts me lol. Then after a 10 minute loading time, the game sometimes crashed 🫣😤.
Lords of Midnight is still one of the greatest games of all time, and I will die on that hill lol. I still fire up the Spectrum emulator coming up to Christmas each year and try to come up with a new strategy
Elite. Revolutionary in its day. True 3D open world game, and the only speccy game that really took my imagination. Chaos. A game you can play with up to 7 friends all gathered around the computer. Superb!
Totally agree, being 55 as well, I can remember playing these games on a very beaten up old wooden TV that I had to hit with a bit of wood to bring the screen back on !! Great days, I miss them…….😊
@@jamesd9630 I loved that game, and Zombie Zombie. Still remember an argument with someone at School who said Zombie Zombie had a girl to save.. but pretty sure it didn't.
I got a Spectrum with 16K for Christmas 1982. The one game I wanted but couldn't play was The Hobbit. It was the first game I played after an upgrade to 48K and I was blown away by the graphics! How times changes and it makes me laugh when I hear complaints about things like games not running at 60FPS.
Ultimate Play the Game certainly brought out some incredible games for the time. Kids today have to remember really we’d only been on colour TV’s for a while so playing games like this felt out of this world. Sir Clive Sinclair what a genius, may he rest in peace.
For my first year of Spectrum playing, I mostly used a tiny black and white portable. It was mind-blowing when my mum let me plug it into the "big screen" (22 inch) colour TV in the lounge.
Ultimate Play The Game better know today as Rare. The word genius is often banded about but those guys consistently produced a body of work that stands the test of time.
Wow that's a trip down memory lane. I can remember me and my cousin sitting there for hours trying to load the games and usually failing because we had the volume wrong on our cassette player. RIP cousin Chris
Gauntlet and Gauntlet 2 wasted most of my teenage years on first a 48k rubber key and then a +3. But we had Horace Goes Skiing (and Chess and some other long-forgotten stuff) when the 48k first arrived, and that was fabulous fun for all the family. We literally all had a go on that every time it was loaded up. Even mum, who wouldn't normally play anything.
True story, my Dad loved Gauntlet in the arcades and was really pleased when we got it for the Spectrum and played it a few times with us. Then one day I came home from school and my dad was sitting in my bedroom playing it! I was impressed he even knew how to load it up!
Spent so much of my pocket money on Gauntlet and Gauntlet II in the local arcades. Those games could chew coins like nothing else. I had it on the Speccy but it wasn't quite the same experience.
Chaos. A game for 2 to 8 wizards developed by the fantastic Julian Gollop. Its been re done for the pc & now called Chaos groove. A few mates & i still have a round or 2 on today. Timeless. Many thanks to Julian Gollop 👍
Three spectrum games I played and loved back in the 1980s early 90s were footy management sim “The Double”, western “The Wild Bunch” and daily Thompson’s decathlon. Thanks for the memories
Was 'Wild Bunch' the one where you were a cowboy that went to Gulch City and there was some guy that wanted to kill you? I remember it being mostly text-based but it was totally enthralling.
I'm surprised at the lack of text/graphics adventure games or strategy games, such as The Hobbit or Lords of Midnight. Interesting lack of puzzle games, but I suppose the puzzle game genre didn't really blow up until the Tetris craze. In the modern era, I think puzzle games have been a particular strength of ZX Spectrum games - I means stuff like Old Tower. Of course, modern games can't compete with 80s era for popularity and name recognition.
Text adventures were my favorite games in the Spectrum. But not a lot of people likes this genre of game. Jack Lockerby games were my favorites. And for the Spectrum+2 it was The Pawn.
Personally, whilst Miner Willy will forever be in my heart, I would have to bump both outings down 2 notches. Doomdark's Revenge would have to take top place, followed by Lords of Midnight. I would have to also throw into the mix somewhere: Arnhem, Tir na Nog, Marsport, Astro Clone, Avalon, DragonTorc, The Sentinel, .......... The problem is, there are more than 20 games that need to go in the top 20.
I completed Manic Miner about 4 years ago. Was a great triumph. Still fascinated by how they were able to pack in so much entertainment using less memory than a pixel-challenged jpeg.
It's such a difficult game and so intense. There are several ways to complete some levels. I tried a year or so ago, Warehouse got me! When I was a kid I completed it. Never managed JSW without the pokes though, but it was a lot of fun exploring that mansion....and the rumour about 'the beach' Plus most of the spin offs are well worth having a go at as well. Phenomenal game! Well done to you for completing it!
In 48k, you could do a vast amount, if you were an efficient & clever programmer, either in Sinclair basic or native machine code. You let the machine do the work in the background, allowing the other elements of the machine to do their jobs properly. I'm an ex system manager on big, big systems that learnt basics (and BASIC) on Sinclair machines. There's a functional Speccy about 4ft away from me. I completed Manic Miner & JSW without pokes (just took a lot of practice and personal memory), smashed Atic Atak (and its cousins aside from the space based one - Alien 8) out of the park. Such an innocuous start to my computing career gave me 20 years in the industry. Thanks Sir Clive
@@redsidebikernot to mention the BASIC tricks like LET A = ABS PI to mean 1 (2 tokens stored, therefore 2 bytes required) Otherwise the 1 was stored in ASCII and then 0x0e followed by a five byte internal float (7 bytes) Memory saving was a skill that rapidly fell out of use.
I never finished Manic Miner despite years of trying. I did manage to finish Atic Atac all by my lonesome on a basic rubber key 48K back when I was about 12 though
The only thing that shocks me in that last is that every single game on the list was a big part of my childhood. I think the 2 notable absences that would have been on my list are Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands and R-Type. But what they would replace on the actual list I couldn't tell you 😅
I played a ton of Horace and the Spiders, Trader, Thrust, Tau Ceti, Élite, Mad Martha, Spy Vs Spy, Tomohawk, Penetrator, TransAm, Hunchback. So many great games for that thing.
My most played zx game was Steve Davis Snooker. Spent loads of hours on that playing a mate. 103 my highest break. Barry Mcguigans boxing was another I loved. Psions Chequered Flag the first of many racing games I've bought. Still racing but now its GT7 on the PS5. 60 years old and still gaming 😂. Oh and i still got my original ZX 48!
I loved a game called Chaos. Multi player game turn based. Up to 8 I think. And when there were a large number of us player it was loud. Especially when all the moves were made. Great fun. Manic miner, that was my first game ever on a computer. Loved it.
Nowadays you can play ZX Spectrum games in your browser. There are Java Script based emulators out there. I once used one to have a go at "Trivial Pursuit" with my IT-team mates in a Teams session. I started the game in my browser and operated the game (i.e. rolled the dice and asked my mates which moves to make).
Loved Rebelstar. Was even better on Amstrad. Me and a mate who works in IT (we are both 50 plus) sometimes play it on emulator. Game was designed by Julian Gollop who went on do X-Com franchise.
I haven’t got my Spectrum anymore 😔, I used to love Attic Attack, Manic Miner, Jetset Willy, Airwolf, Knight Rider, Streethawk, Daley Thompson Decathlon, Spy Vs Spy, RoboCop, Renegade, I do miss those days. I still have my C16, C64, Amiga500+, Amiga 1200, which I think all still work. Who remembers Outrun? I remember all of these games. I would have been 12/13 years old when I started playing games. You forgot about Starwars. Happy Days.
Target Renegade was probably my most favourite game, playing 2 player with my mate before walking to school. Also Pole Position and Daley Thompson’s Decathlon has to be up there as well ❤️
Hardly any of those would make my list. Target renegade and jetpac would be the only ones. Gunship, Battlechess, Gauntlet/gauntlet deeper dungeons, International Karate +, The Way of the Exploding Fist, Dreadnoughts, Hunter Killer (one of the first games you could play against a friend using two computers) and of course, for the sound track alone, Bubble Bobble.
Daily Thompson's Decathlon (Track & Field rehash), Paper Boy, International Karate +, Airwolf, Gauntlet, Barry McGuigan's Boxing (honourable mention Frank Bruno's Boxing) were all popular games worthy of the top ten. Rommels Revenge wasn't a bad vector graphic game.
I think my all-time favourites would be Quazatron, Robocop, Chaos (and the sequel Lords Of Chaos) and Head Over Heels (how is this not in the list?). Can't argue with most of your list though. Spent a lot of time playing Target Renegade with my buddy Stuart back in the day, and the Ultimate games were always good fun.
Formula 1... wow what a memory. Our whole family played this together. Each chose their cars, drivers and changed tyres. Was brilliant seeing your brother do lap records and so far in front... and then.... where is my car??? Message.... crashed... ❤ Or just sending car out of pit... and then ppprrrrrr... engine sick 😂
Hi ! Great selection ! Back in the days, I used to play with flight simulators, and we had great ones on the Spectrum, like "fighter pilot" or "Combat Lynx". I really enjoyed Skooldaze ! So much fun !
The game that persuaded us to buy a ZX Spectrum when the 48k version came out at £159.00 was "Halls of the Things". Fast paced, amazing scrolling, and devious, it kept us going back for just one more go for hours on end. My brother and some of his friends also bought Spectrums to play that particular game. I suspect that the reason it didn't make the list is because none of the people who voted have ever played it. A lot of other games on the list were personal favourites, such as Jet Set Willy and the Ultimate series of games. Happy days.
A favourite here as well. And I learnt to programme on that Spectrum. Now thinking of recreating Halls of the Things using Unity and how much has changed.
Bruce Lee was amazing! I can’t remember if it was 2 or even 3 player? Commando was also one of my favourites I absolutely loved playing that. Ant Attack might have been the first game I played on the Spectrum - happy days!
"swords and sorcery" was kinda like a turn-based dungeon crawler rpg...you had to go round collecting a set of armour...in the first dungeon you had the greaves and sabatons (feet and shins)...i managed to usually get through to the 2nd dungeon but always ended up falling into a pit... the monster (in the first dungeon anyway) were skeleton and nagas...cant remember how many hours i spent on that game... 😁
Operation Wolf was incredible, better than many on this list but its hard anyway to create a list with so many good games. I believe there could be some cases that having the spectrum was more fun than a 16bit, namely chase hq, op.wolf, robocop and many other original titles.
Lotus Esprit was the only one on the list I played - and it got played a lot! A few favourites not to make the list: Flying Shark, Kane, Saboteur, Disco Dan, Sport of Kings and Scumball.
Great video. Manic Miner deserving the top place. Still play it now, and after 40 years of trying, I still haven't completed it yet. Surprised at how few of these games I had from the list. There's a few I thought would make the list. Rock Star Ate My Hamster and Dan Dare stood out as obvious omissions. Two classic Speccy games in my books. I had a lot of those Firebird budget games as I was just a poor Secondary school kid at the time. Yet some of those I still love. Viking Raiders springs to mind.
Ha ha, I know the feeling. Closest I got was final level (20) I think and I jumped at the exit box and ran out of oxygen a few pixels before entering it. My mate laughed so loud watching me 😂
Was absolutely obsessed with Sabre wulf, Kightlore. I loved Turbo Esprit too. The way it was a whole world and you could drive where you wanted shoot any cars and create gridlocks 😅
It makes me sad that Lords of Midnight never makes these lists. It was such a stand out game for me and captured such an epic quest in such a neat manner, giving the choice of single character quest or full on wargame, or both. Mike Singleton was a man ahead of his time and I think honestly that a 'universe' would not be captured as well until Elite came along. It's also a shame that so many amazing text adventures are ignored... I guess while others were playing F1 I was too immersed in the Hobbit, Bugsy, Runestone. and others.
Nice list, though I suggest missing - * The Lords of Midnight (and Doomdark's Revenge) - the atmosphere and size of the game for 48k was amazing. Like the Skyrim of its time. * The Hobbit - again, amazing atmosphere and graphics for its time. Got me to read to too with its included Hobbit book. * Shadowfire - even just for the music, but something about it felt special, like playing a movie. * Laser Squad was awesome
I liked the 48k Scrabble game. Unfortunately, it made my speccy run so hot, it crashed. I had to stand the spectrum on a freezer icepack to make it load and run!
9:04 Bruce Lee was one of very few games that teenage me could beat. Then 50 year old me disassembled the whole thing during lockdown, which also kind of meant that i had to play it quite a lot recently. Yeah, who needs lives, but a bloody good game all the same.
Nice video. Used to play Commando and many others on or with ZX Spectrum 48k. It is always a pleasure to see and hear others reviweing games ... which I either played, not heard of ever or anything in between. It's... just nice! Cheers...
Hmm, I am surprised not to see Elite, Barbarian, Daley Thompson's Decathlon, Exploding Fist, Head Over Heels, Batman: The Caped Crusader, Football Manager or Soccer Boss, The Lords of Midnight, Tir Na Nog, Tranz Am, Rebelstar, any Monty game, Green Beret, Trap Door, IK+, Mercenary, The Great Escape and Rex make that list.
@@TheLairdsLair I agree it was a challenge. I had a lot of time for it though. Anyway great work on the video and on the channel! Love that so many Ultimate games made it in! How close was Underwurlde?
Yep, that was my #1. It was an acquired taste though - too difficult for many folk, but definitely possible to master... IIRC my best was 18 alien bases in one game!, never did find that trailer though!
Loved JetPac and Knight Lore! Ultimate made some great games. Something in me misses the simplicity and naivety of these days, the struggle for programmers to achieve lots with very little. Also the nostalgia of popping into the local news agents which had a downstairs section for video games.. always fun to dive in there after a visit to the video library, see if they had anything interesting. I'd add to these Pool, Chequered Flag, Trans-Am and Light Cycle.
Glad to see Lightforce (surprisingly) in there which I agree with. Manic Miner in top 2 I agree with as well but I would have *Lords of Midnight* either 1st or joint first with Manic. Both are examples of _perfect_ game design. Worth a mention: although it was technically a bit inferior to versions for other computers I would have *Elite* well up the list. Actually, I think the basic line graphics on black gave the Spectrum version a great outer space feel.
Maybe these were in the top 40 but a few classics I played and enjoyed more than most of those are. The Hungry Horace games, like Horace goes Skiing The Dizzy games (mentioned, I know) especially treasure island dizzy. Halls of the Things Match of the Day Daley Thompson’s Decathlon, even though that game broke my keyboard.
i never knew there was a follow up to Skool Daze in Back to Skool. I feel my childhood wasn't complete now as loved Skool Daze. I did love Bruce Lee, Turbo Esprit, Way of the Exploding Fist, Chase HQ, Chuckie egg, Matchday, Kokotoni Wilf, Manic Miner, Airwolf, Rambo ...so many memories
Glad to see Atic Atac on this list. It was basically the game that made me took programming first as a hobby, and now as my career. That F1 game from CRL is the only one I hadn't played before. I'll look it up. Suprised to not see any spanish game, though. They made some really amazing games back in the day, such as Abu Simbel Profanation, La Abadía del Crimen, Stardust, Mad Mix Game, etc. Other games worth being mentioned could be Match Day II, Ping Pong, The Way of the Exploding Fist, Three Weeks in Paradise, R-Type, Saboteur, Flying Shark, Fairlight, Head Over Heels, Alien 8... I could go on and on. 😁
Yes, Formula 1 was the only game I hadn't played in the whole top 40. La Abadia Del Crimen and Sir Fred got quite a few votes, but not enough to break in to the main list.
Oh, Fairlight, I'd completely forgotten about that one. I'm guessing it didn't make the list because not enough people hiring had played it, but it was a ahead of its time I think for the Speccy!!!
Scuba Dive, 3D Ant Attack (+Zombie Zombie).. Lords of Midnight (+Doomdarks Revenge).. Fairlight and Elite.. These would probably have been in my top 10.
all of my favourite moments in ZX Spectrum gaming were those moments where animation happened quickly and colour clash was circumvented by way of very clever arrangement. Maybe Jetpac and Manic Miner are the best. Brilliant
It's a system I haven't had the chance of having intimacy in its heyday, but later with emulation. (I was a Brazilian child who had his first videogame when he was 10 in 1991, and it was a NES clone.) I didn't vote before because I am not a big fan of the original system, specially in the sound department. But I find its minimal rainbow color pallete and, specially, its color clashes quite charming! I do enjoy its graphical resolution. My favorite ZX Spectrum system must be the 128k for sure, specially because of its sound improvement. Also, I have to say that, if I were Brit and living during its heyday, I'd buy the ZX Spectrum due to its affordability, but not prospecting to stay with it for more time... (It came to Brazil in the form of the TK-90, but it wasn't that well known in my region...) Going to the games, that would be my Top 5: 5 - Deathchase (Very impressive game in its heyday, still simple and exciting to be played!) 4 - Robocop (The very best Ocean game I've played in any system... Manages to be even better than certain 16-bits computer adaptations! The music is iconic.) 3 - Target Renegade (Brilliant soundtrack, better in the gameplay than the previous, but great, one.) 2 - Jet Set Willy (Manages to be even more surreal and challenging than...) 1 - Manic Miner (It's such a perfect game in its learning difficulty curve and amazingly constructed in its platforming...! Being the very first game to have a real soundtrack for the 48k in its limited capabilities, you can't help but admire its pioneering effort in making melodic glitchy noise. It's avant-garde! By the way, is the copy that's shown in the video a later iteration with corrected soundtrack?) Honorable mention: Knight Lore (An isometric game that's fun and intriguing in its development.) I'm not surprised to see that The Deep didn't make the list, but it's worth mentioning...v
"I didn't vote before because I am not a big fan of the original system, specially in the sound department." Sir Clive Sinclair, who designed the Spectrum, deliberately kept its audiovisual capabilities very limited in order to conserve precious memory (back then was memory for computers was extremely limited and very expensive; the first Spectra only had 16K of RAM, which before too long was expandable to 48K). Those earlier Spectra do not have a sound-chip, instead having sound done by the CPU; it was not until the 128K Spectrum debuted that the Spectrum gained a dedicated sound chip. He also never originally intended the computer to be used for games, seeing it instead as an affordable home computer for simple business use. This, too, would have meant that flashy audiovisual presentation would not have been seen as important (as well as the UK having had a recession at the time of the Spectrum first coming out, meaning that a lot of people would not have been able to afford a home computer were it not for the Spectrum's existence and comparatively low price tag).
TK90X not well known in Brazil? This was my first computer here in Brazil in the 80's (i'm brazilian too) and i remember very well it was everywhere, every store or shopping center. TK90X, TK95, MSX Expert, MSX Hotbit, all of them were famous in Brazil. Here is my incomplete list of favorite zx-spectrum games: Target Renegade, Renegade, Flying Shark, Terra Cresta, War, Slap Fight, Green Beret, Ikari Warriors, Rex, Rick Dangerous 1 & 2, Dan Dare 1 & 3, Nebulus, Dynamite Dan 2, R-Type, Arkanoid, Arkanoid Revenge of Doh, Pacmania, Exolon, Chase HQ, Colony, Motoracer, Out Run, Chevy Chase, Light Force, Scooby Doo, Batty, Bombjack, Ironman Super Off Road, Scooby and Scrappy Doo, Cybernoid 1 & 2, Into Eagles Nest, Freddy Hardest, Bounder, Firefly, Myth - History in The Making, Batman, Batman - The Caped Crusader, Batman The Movie, Head Over Heels, Stallone Cobra, Anarchy, Jack The Nipper 1 & 2, Dizzy series, Ghouls'n Ghosts, Ghosts'n Goblins, Rainbow Islands, Pang, Ms. Pac-Man, Yogi Bear, Yogi's Great Escape, Stop The Express, Last Ninja 2, Bruce Lee, Maze Mania, Rockman, The Way of Exploding Fist, Movie, Desperado, Rogue Trooper, The Way of Tiger, Commando, Chessmaster 2000, Cabal, Pro Mountain Bike Simulator, Sai Combat, Neter Earth, Great Gurianos, Wec Le Mans, Astro Marine Corps, Rolling Thunder, The Great Escape, Top Cat, Avenger, Barbarian, Stormlord, Hong Kong Phooey, Gryzor, Match Day 2, Operation Wolf, The Addams Family, Shadow of The Beast, Rambo 3, Rodland, Yie Ar Kung Fu, Savage, Action Force 1 & 2, Army Moves, Navy Moves, Shao Lin's Road, Combat School, Who Dares Wins 2, Plotting, Heartland, Mickey Mouse, Thundercats, Crystal Castles, Rock'n Roller, Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, Saboteur 1 & 2, Nosferatu, Hydrofool, Scuba Dive, Postman Pat 2, Ninja Hamster, Spy vs Spy, Turbo the Tortoise, Potsworth & Co., Atom Ant, Cauldron 1& 2, Hysteria, Tornado Low Level, Cyclone, HATE.
This was my childhood on a 128k! The first game I ever completed was fantasy land dizzy, I loved The New Zealand story, all the dizzys especially spellbound, chuckie egg 1&2 and rainbow islands. I got the mags with tapes (The great 8) from Ocean and Sinclair User. I had 1427 seperate tapes some with 50 games on em. ah the good old days! LOAD""
My favourite was Desert Rats and Vulcan by CSS (still play them occasionally on a phone Speccy emulator), I understand that those will not make into "all around best" compilation but it's for sure one of the best strategy games for ZX.
I used to play ELITE for hours (if I could get it to load and work out the code with the special lens.!) I'm still playing the newer version on the XBox and I'm in my 50s now ;-)
Chuckie egg 2: is like a dream, such a bizzarely long game for its genre, makes JSW2 seem short. Cauldron 2. great fun. suprised no dizzy games made the top 20.
River Rescue! I always went to my mate’s house to play games after school. His sister was really nice. River Rescue was the only game she would join us to play. 🥰
I can't believe how had this list is. No Super Robin Hood, Rick Dangerous, Dizzy, Ghouls and Ghosts, Daley Thompson's Decathlon, Outrun, Rainbow Islands, Green Beret and Super Stuntman. Chuckie Egg and , Bruce Lee were awesome!
Death Chase 3D holds a special place in my heart December 83 Xmas eve my parents let me stay up well into xmas day to play this game whilst xmas songs were playing in the background and mum and dad preparing the xmas spuds and veg...
My first computer was the good old Sincliar ZX81 it took me 1 hour to build and after a while i built a keyboard and memory expansion. My next one was the ZX Spectrum then came Commodore 64 and many more computers after that and now i repair and build computers and laptops as a side line now iam retired at 70.
Moon Cresta is a surprise as I thought it was a great arcade conversion (and probably) ONLY ONE OF LESS THAN A HANDFUL OF GAMES I COMPLETED. There was a prize if you sent the secret message to the publisher. I played every morning before school and evening after and sent off my entry........never won, but can stil remember the dah - dah, dah - dah, dah - dah dededar music. It seems I moved to 800XL about 84/5 and Amiga 86
A lot of people have been questioning this list or asking where their favourite games finished so here is the full Top 50:
50 - Rebel Star
49 - Starion
48 - Lunar Jetman
47 - Harrier Attack
46 - Star Quake
45 - Midnight Resistance
44 - Driller
43 - Fantasy World Dizzy
42 - Spy Hunter
41 - Head Over Heels
40 - Laser Squad
39 - Star Strike
38 - T.L.L.
37 - The Hobbit
36 - Dan Dare 3
35 - Match Point
34 - Star Wars
33 - The Way of the Exploding Fist
32 - Horace Goes Skiing
31 - Kikstart 2
30 - Batman
29 - R-Type
28 - Skooldaze
27 - Nether Earth
26 - Bubble Bobble
25 - Saboteur
24 - Lords of Midnight
23 - Emlyn Hughes Soccer
22 - Elite
21 - Match Day 2
20 - Commando
19 - Light Force
18 - Back To Skool
17 - Atic Atac
16 - Highway Encounter
15 - Robocop
14 - Bomb Jack
13 - Deathchase 3D
12 - Formula 1 Simulator
11 - Renegade
10 - Bruce Lee
9 - Sabre Wulf
8 - Turbo Esprit
7 - Knightlore
6 - Target Renegade
5 - Chase H.Q.
4 - Chuckie Egg
3 - Jetpac
2 - Jet Set Willy
1 - Manic Miner
@@Mjb2110 No great escape ??
My favourite Spectrum game was "Dragontorc" ...absolutely amazing game at the time and years ahead of it's time imo. Didn't even make the top50 ?!?!?!
Commando at 20 and no cobra 😮
Hah! I remember Highway encounter, first game I ever finished.
Ye ar kung-fu, carrier command, ATV, CYCLONE???, football manager - the first football management game, Alchemist I could go on suffice to say I could easily think of 30 odd games to swap in this top 50 although I'm glad to see Renegade in the top 10
Wow, this video actually brought tears to my eyes. I remember going to town with my late younger brother, we were dead excited because we had our pocket money and all the way into town we were talking about which speccy game we were going to get. We got 2 in the end because both were 2 players, it was Matchday 2 and Target Renegade. We spent hours and hours playing it together. I miss him so much, he would have loved this video. 😓🙂
Thank you for this post. It reminded me of how lucky we all are to be here, and to have enjoyed the dawn of gaming.
Very touching!!
That is a nice story - that will always be a nice memory for you.
Another Co - Vid statistic no doubt.
Pesky Chinese.
I’m surprised Elite didn’t get a mention. I loved that game. My other favourite was the Bards Tale.
Another vote for Bards Tale
The bards tale was remarkable
Indeed. I'm reasonably certain that I've spent well over 50% of my total playing (ok, gaming...) time with Elite. After reaching Elite rank I moved to Sentry, which is also not mentioned.
Never had Either for the Speccy, I was am Amstrad CPC boy myself... My Sisters had the Spectrum +2... And I played it more than them! But I must agree - ELITE not getting a mention is kind of a a surprise!!!
Same with The Bards Tale for me as well... I had it on the CPC and WOW! WHAT A GAME!!!
Commando, Jet set willy, robocop, operation wolf, double dragon, blocks and. turbo esprit were my favourite games on the spectrum 48k.
The noise when loading those games still haunts me lol.
Then after a 10 minute loading time, the game sometimes crashed 🫣😤.
I'd definitely need Lord's of Midnight, Barry Mcguigans boxing and Daley Thompsons Decathlon on the list.
A thumbs-up for Lords of Midnight. I think I virtually _lived_ in that game.
A third for Lords Of Midnight
Beyond were ahead of their time
DT's Decathalon for sure - and Wheelie needs adding as you could beat it but lots of levels and difficulties.
Lords of Midnight is still one of the greatest games of all time, and I will die on that hill lol. I still fire up the Spectrum emulator coming up to Christmas each year and try to come up with a new strategy
Yeah DT Decathlon for sure. Quite liked summer games on C64 too
My additional favourites:
The Hobbit, Lords of Midnight, Tir Na Nog, Valhalla, Spy vs Spy, Dark Scepter
Elite. Revolutionary in its day. True 3D open world game, and the only speccy game that really took my imagination.
Chaos. A game you can play with up to 7 friends all gathered around the computer. Superb!
Chaos: Battle of the Wizards not being on this list is insane.
Unfortunately, I think Elite was better on the BBC system
At 55 years old this brings back so many memories from my childhood lol. Thanx for this well presented video. Subscribed.
Thanks for the sub and glad you enjoyed the video!
Totally agree, being 55 as well, I can remember playing these games on a very beaten up old wooden TV that I had to hit with a bit of wood to bring the screen back on !! Great days, I miss them…….😊
Ant-Attack would have been on my list as well as a few others.
My Cousin Sandy wrote Ant Attack
Ant Attack was really good for its day. I loved it
I want to see this on the Playdate!
@@jamesd9630 I loved that game, and Zombie Zombie. Still remember an argument with someone at School who said Zombie Zombie had a girl to save.. but pretty sure it didn't.
Yes, Ant attack was soo advanced for its time, loved it!
I'm surprised that the ZX Spectrum conversion of Elite didn't make the list.
It just missed out, it made the top 40.
I got a Spectrum with 16K for Christmas 1982. The one game I wanted but couldn't play was The Hobbit. It was the first game I played after an upgrade to 48K and I was blown away by the graphics! How times changes and it makes me laugh when I hear complaints about things like games not running at 60FPS.
Haha. We may have gotten the same things at the same time you and I 😅
Exactly the same for me, and Jet Pac was playable on the 16k, good old days.
Ultimate Play the Game certainly brought out some incredible games for the time. Kids today have to remember really we’d only been on colour TV’s for a while so playing games like this felt out of this world. Sir Clive Sinclair what a genius, may he rest in peace.
For my first year of Spectrum playing, I mostly used a tiny black and white portable. It was mind-blowing when my mum let me plug it into the "big screen" (22 inch) colour TV in the lounge.
@@AutPen38 Same here. Got a 48K+ Christmas '86 and had to use a small Black & White TV until my birthday halfway through '87.
Ultimate Play The Game better know today as Rare.
The word genius is often banded about but those guys consistently produced a body of work that stands the test of time.
Surprised not to see Wheelie in the top 50. Loved that game :-)
Wow that's a trip down memory lane. I can remember me and my cousin sitting there for hours trying to load the games and usually failing because we had the volume wrong on our cassette player. RIP cousin Chris
Gauntlet and Gauntlet 2 wasted most of my teenage years on first a 48k rubber key and then a +3.
But we had Horace Goes Skiing (and Chess and some other long-forgotten stuff) when the 48k first arrived, and that was fabulous fun for all the family.
We literally all had a go on that every time it was loaded up. Even mum, who wouldn't normally play anything.
True story, my Dad loved Gauntlet in the arcades and was really pleased when we got it for the Spectrum and played it a few times with us. Then one day I came home from school and my dad was sitting in my bedroom playing it! I was impressed he even knew how to load it up!
We used to play 4 player - two on the keyboard and two programmable joysticks. Greaty fun
Elf needs food......badly.
Spent so much of my pocket money on Gauntlet and Gauntlet II in the local arcades. Those games could chew coins like nothing else.
I had it on the Speccy but it wasn't quite the same experience.
Shots now stun other players….me and a friend used to end up shooting each other in the back before a load of mobs on those levels!
Chaos. A game for 2 to 8 wizards developed by the fantastic Julian Gollop. Its been re done for the pc & now called Chaos groove.
A few mates & i still have a round or 2 on today. Timeless. Many thanks to Julian Gollop 👍
I loved chaos man! I even play it on an emulator sometimes 🤣🤣 I will check out this Chaos groove though! 👍
I was trying to remember the name of that one.. thanks. (summon manticore)
Really surprised Chaos didn't get in this list.
Chaos lives on in my head more than any other Speccy game. I, too, play it on an emulator now and again.
Chaos was one of the all time best games ever not just on the speccy. My favourite spell was gooey blob haha
Criminal not to have 'Green Beret' on there.........still remember the pattern for the dogs at the submarine.
agree
What a great time for gaming the 80’s were. My favourites included The Way of the Exploding Fist, Avalon, and Lords of Midnight.
Avalon was great.
Three spectrum games I played and loved back in the 1980s early 90s were footy management sim “The Double”, western “The Wild Bunch” and daily Thompson’s decathlon. Thanks for the memories
me too, the double was great :)
do you want a drink of red eye
wild bunch was awesome
Was 'Wild Bunch' the one where you were a cowboy that went to Gulch City and there was some guy that wanted to kill you? I remember it being mostly text-based but it was totally enthralling.
I never, ever beat The Wild Bunch :( . @CLOWNUK red eye lol
I'm surprised at the lack of text/graphics adventure games or strategy games, such as The Hobbit or Lords of Midnight.
Interesting lack of puzzle games, but I suppose the puzzle game genre didn't really blow up until the Tetris craze. In the modern era, I think puzzle games have been a particular strength of ZX Spectrum games - I means stuff like Old Tower. Of course, modern games can't compete with 80s era for popularity and name recognition.
Both The Hobbit and Lords of Midnight made the Top 40.
Text adventures were my favorite games in the Spectrum. But not a lot of people likes this genre of game. Jack Lockerby games were my favorites. And for the Spectrum+2 it was The Pawn.
Sim City isn't enough a strategy game for you ?
Yeah great shout, my mate was really into it
I was too young to understand Lords of Midnight and Doomdarks revenge but I know they were great games!
Personally, whilst Miner Willy will forever be in my heart, I would have to bump both outings down 2 notches. Doomdark's Revenge would have to take top place, followed by Lords of Midnight.
I would have to also throw into the mix somewhere: Arnhem, Tir na Nog, Marsport, Astro Clone, Avalon, DragonTorc, The Sentinel, ..........
The problem is, there are more than 20 games that need to go in the top 20.
I think we had similar tastes ;)
I'd forgotten about Tir na Nog.. did you play Fairlight?
Jet set willy manic miner
The Sentinel :)
I completed Manic Miner about 4 years ago.
Was a great triumph.
Still fascinated by how they were able to pack in so much entertainment using less memory than a pixel-challenged jpeg.
It's such a difficult game and so intense. There are several ways to complete some levels. I tried a year or so ago, Warehouse got me! When I was a kid I completed it. Never managed JSW without the pokes though, but it was a lot of fun exploring that mansion....and the rumour about 'the beach' Plus most of the spin offs are well worth having a go at as well. Phenomenal game! Well done to you for completing it!
In 48k, you could do a vast amount, if you were an efficient & clever programmer, either in Sinclair basic or native machine code. You let the machine do the work in the background, allowing the other elements of the machine to do their jobs properly. I'm an ex system manager on big, big systems that learnt basics (and BASIC) on Sinclair machines. There's a functional Speccy about 4ft away from me. I completed Manic Miner & JSW without pokes (just took a lot of practice and personal memory), smashed Atic Atak (and its cousins aside from the space based one - Alien 8) out of the park. Such an innocuous start to my computing career gave me 20 years in the industry. Thanks Sir Clive
It was _real_ programming then. Fit and efficient.
@@redsidebikernot to mention the BASIC tricks like LET A = ABS PI to mean 1 (2 tokens stored, therefore 2 bytes required) Otherwise the 1 was stored in ASCII and then 0x0e followed by a five byte internal float (7 bytes)
Memory saving was a skill that rapidly fell out of use.
I never finished Manic Miner despite years of trying. I did manage to finish Atic Atac all by my lonesome on a basic rubber key 48K back when I was about 12 though
The only thing that shocks me in that last is that every single game on the list was a big part of my childhood.
I think the 2 notable absences that would have been on my list are Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands and R-Type.
But what they would replace on the actual list I couldn't tell you 😅
yep - R-type was amazing
I played a ton of Horace and the Spiders, Trader, Thrust, Tau Ceti, Élite, Mad Martha, Spy Vs Spy, Tomohawk, Penetrator, TransAm, Hunchback. So many great games for that thing.
My most played zx game was Steve Davis Snooker. Spent loads of hours on that playing a mate. 103 my highest break. Barry Mcguigans boxing was another I loved. Psions Chequered Flag the first of many racing games I've bought. Still racing but now its GT7 on the PS5. 60 years old and still gaming 😂.
Oh and i still got my original ZX 48!
Chequered flag was amazing. Plus it came free with my Spectrum in the "Action pack, that came with it, at the time (alongside Horace goes Skiing!)
That was probably my 3rd favourite Chequered Flag
Really surprised at the lack of a mention for Uridium, Head Over Heels, or even The Great Escape 😢😂
I loved a game called Chaos.
Multi player game turn based. Up to 8 I think. And when there were a large number of us player it was loud. Especially when all the moves were made. Great fun.
Manic miner, that was my first game ever on a computer. Loved it.
Rebelstar. I'd play it today if I had it. 2 player turn based strategy. Truly a pioneer of the genre.
Yeah I loved Rebelstar 2 and Laser Squad. You can play them all online now.
Nowadays you can play ZX Spectrum games in your browser.
There are Java Script based emulators out there.
I once used one to have a go at "Trivial Pursuit" with my IT-team mates in a Teams session.
I started the game in my browser and operated the game (i.e. rolled the dice and asked my mates which moves to make).
Loved Rebelstar. Was even better on Amstrad. Me and a mate who works in IT (we are both 50 plus) sometimes play it on emulator. Game was designed by Julian Gollop who went on do X-Com franchise.
I haven’t got my Spectrum anymore 😔, I used to love Attic Attack, Manic Miner, Jetset Willy, Airwolf, Knight Rider, Streethawk, Daley Thompson Decathlon, Spy Vs Spy, RoboCop, Renegade, I do miss those days. I still have my C16, C64, Amiga500+, Amiga 1200, which I think all still work. Who remembers Outrun? I remember all of these games. I would have been 12/13 years old when I started playing games. You forgot about Starwars. Happy Days.
Moon Cresta, Jet Set Willy, Hero, Match day. Just to name a few of my favourites.
Target Renegade was probably my most favourite game, playing 2 player with my mate before walking to school. Also Pole Position and Daley Thompson’s Decathlon has to be up there as well ❤️
Hardly any of those would make my list. Target renegade and jetpac would be the only ones.
Gunship, Battlechess, Gauntlet/gauntlet deeper dungeons, International Karate +, The Way of the Exploding Fist, Dreadnoughts, Hunter Killer (one of the first games you could play against a friend using two computers) and of course, for the sound track alone, Bubble Bobble.
Daily Thompson's Decathlon (Track & Field rehash), Paper Boy, International Karate +, Airwolf, Gauntlet, Barry McGuigan's Boxing (honourable mention Frank Bruno's Boxing) were all popular games worthy of the top ten. Rommels Revenge wasn't a bad vector graphic game.
yep - all worth a mention!
I think my all-time favourites would be Quazatron, Robocop, Chaos (and the sequel Lords Of Chaos) and Head Over Heels (how is this not in the list?). Can't argue with most of your list though. Spent a lot of time playing Target Renegade with my buddy Stuart back in the day, and the Ultimate games were always good fun.
Head Over Heels - sounds familiar
Formula 1... wow what a memory. Our whole family played this together. Each chose their cars, drivers and changed tyres. Was brilliant seeing your brother do lap records and so far in front... and then.... where is my car??? Message.... crashed... ❤
Or just sending car out of pit... and then ppprrrrrr... engine sick 😂
Classic
Hi ! Great selection ! Back in the days, I used to play with flight simulators, and we had great ones on the Spectrum, like "fighter pilot" or "Combat Lynx". I really enjoyed Skooldaze ! So much fun !
The game that persuaded us to buy a ZX Spectrum when the 48k version came out at £159.00 was "Halls of the Things". Fast paced, amazing scrolling, and devious, it kept us going back for just one more go for hours on end. My brother and some of his friends also bought Spectrums to play that particular game. I suspect that the reason it didn't make the list is because none of the people who voted have ever played it. A lot of other games on the list were personal favourites, such as Jet Set Willy and the Ultimate series of games. Happy days.
Wish i could still play halls of the things, brings back memories
A favourite here as well. And I learnt to programme on that Spectrum. Now thinking of recreating Halls of the Things using Unity and how much has changed.
Did you ever play 'Warlock of Firetop Mountain'? I think it was an updated version of Halls.
Atic Atac, absolutely outstanding.
Bruce Lee was amazing! I can’t remember if it was 2 or even 3 player? Commando was also one of my favourites I absolutely loved playing that. Ant Attack might have been the first game I played on the Spectrum - happy days!
"swords and sorcery"
was kinda like a turn-based dungeon crawler rpg...you had to go round collecting a set of armour...in the first dungeon you had the greaves and sabatons (feet and shins)...i managed to usually get through to the 2nd dungeon but always ended up falling into a pit...
the monster (in the first dungeon anyway) were skeleton and nagas...cant remember how many hours i spent on that game... 😁
Operation Wolf was incredible, better than many on this list but its hard anyway to create a list with so many good games. I believe there could be some cases that having the spectrum was more fun than a 16bit, namely chase hq, op.wolf, robocop and many other original titles.
Lotus Esprit was the only one on the list I played - and it got played a lot!
A few favourites not to make the list: Flying Shark, Kane, Saboteur, Disco Dan, Sport of Kings and Scumball.
Drugs exchanged!
Saboteur! I completely forgot about that one. Loved it.
Saboteur was excellent
My personal "missing from this list" favourites would be R-Type, Rainbow Islands and Midnight Resistance.
R-Type only just missed out.
Just about nailed it, maybe Starquake in there somewhere but otherwise a sound selection
Great video. Manic Miner deserving the top place. Still play it now, and after 40 years of trying, I still haven't completed it yet. Surprised at how few of these games I had from the list. There's a few I thought would make the list. Rock Star Ate My Hamster and Dan Dare stood out as obvious omissions. Two classic Speccy games in my books. I had a lot of those Firebird budget games as I was just a poor Secondary school kid at the time. Yet some of those I still love. Viking Raiders springs to mind.
Ha ha, I know the feeling. Closest I got was final level (20) I think and I jumped at the exit box and ran out of oxygen a few pixels before entering it. My mate laughed so loud watching me 😂
I loved Rock Star and the Dan Dare games too.
Same got it on my iPad loved it as a teenager
How did I forget bomb jack? Had a 35 year flashback in that one moment. Thank you for the trip down memory lane
Harrier Attack was awesome.
"I love Commando!"
"Alright, alright, keep your pants on!"
I'm surprised the likes of Starquake, Wizards Lair, Rollercoaster, Boulderdash & Bounder aren't on this list,especially Starquake, awesome game!!!
Was absolutely obsessed with Sabre wulf, Kightlore. I loved Turbo Esprit too. The way it was a whole world and you could drive where you wanted shoot any cars and create gridlocks 😅
It makes me sad that Lords of Midnight never makes these lists. It was such a stand out game for me and captured such an epic quest in such a neat manner, giving the choice of single character quest or full on wargame, or both. Mike Singleton was a man ahead of his time and I think honestly that a 'universe' would not be captured as well until Elite came along.
It's also a shame that so many amazing text adventures are ignored... I guess while others were playing F1 I was too immersed in the Hobbit, Bugsy, Runestone. and others.
It only just missed out (it was 24th) and made the wider Top 40 I did, as did The Hobbit.
Totally agree, once you mastered how to play it it felt so immersive. Doomdark's Revenge even more so.
Yes m8, Mike Singleton is (was) God. Bugsy - there's one I forgot.
Nice list, though I suggest missing -
* The Lords of Midnight (and Doomdark's Revenge) - the atmosphere and size of the game for 48k was amazing. Like the Skyrim of its time.
* The Hobbit - again, amazing atmosphere and graphics for its time. Got me to read to too with its included Hobbit book.
* Shadowfire - even just for the music, but something about it felt special, like playing a movie.
* Laser Squad was awesome
Lords of Midnight only just missed out on the Top 20 and The Hobbit was also in the Top 40 - the competition was tough here!
I liked the 48k Scrabble game. Unfortunately, it made my speccy run so hot, it crashed. I had to stand the spectrum on a freezer icepack to make it load and run!
Good times! Holding the tv aerial to see the program proply too!
I still have my original speccy from 1982 ( it still works too!) and i also have Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy, Jetpac and Chuckie Egg
9:04 Bruce Lee was one of very few games that teenage me could beat.
Then 50 year old me disassembled the whole thing during lockdown, which also kind of meant that i had to play it quite a lot recently. Yeah, who needs lives, but a bloody good game all the same.
Nice video. Used to play Commando and many others on or with ZX Spectrum 48k. It is always a pleasure to see and hear others reviweing games ... which I either played, not heard of ever or anything in between. It's... just nice! Cheers...
Hmm, I am surprised not to see Elite, Barbarian, Daley Thompson's Decathlon, Exploding Fist, Head Over Heels, Batman: The Caped Crusader, Football Manager or Soccer Boss, The Lords of Midnight, Tir Na Nog, Tranz Am, Rebelstar, any Monty game, Green Beret, Trap Door, IK+, Mercenary, The Great Escape and Rex make that list.
You literally just listed an alternative top 20, how many games do you want on the list? 😂😂😂
@@TheLairdsLair That is a good question 😅
Ooo Thought Dynamite Dan and Alien 8 and Spy Hunter might have been on list (:
I was surprised to not see Heavy on the Magic on this list :) Awesome adventure game for it's time!
I don't think a single person voted for it, but nice hear something different.
It was fantastic as were Tir Na Nog, Dun Darach and Marsport@@TheLairdsLair
I can never understand why Lunar Jetman by Ulimate never makes these lists. My most loved speccy game!
I think most people found it too hard.
@@TheLairdsLair I agree it was a challenge. I had a lot of time for it though. Anyway great work on the video and on the channel! Love that so many Ultimate games made it in! How close was Underwurlde?
No idea, I only counted the top 40 and that wasn't in it.
Yep, that was my #1. It was an acquired taste though - too difficult for many folk, but definitely possible to master... IIRC my best was 18 alien bases in one game!, never did find that trailer though!
LoM and DDR are my best two, and I still play DDR.
Loved JetPac and Knight Lore! Ultimate made some great games. Something in me misses the simplicity and naivety of these days, the struggle for programmers to achieve lots with very little. Also the nostalgia of popping into the local news agents which had a downstairs section for video games.. always fun to dive in there after a visit to the video library, see if they had anything interesting.
I'd add to these Pool, Chequered Flag, Trans-Am and Light Cycle.
Monty on the run, great Rob Hubbard sountrack
Can't believe no Monty Mole, Monty on the Run or Auf Weideresehen Monty 🤯
Never actually seen any video of Zx spectrum games before. This was a good video for getting an idea of how they played.
Multiplayer Soccer Manager, Gunfright, R-type, Renegade, Nether Earth, Robin Hood .... there are just too many to choose from
"Aliens" by Electric Dreams was a superb movie conversion, really captured the tension of the film. Brutally hard, though 🙂
I remember getting it on a Your Sinclair cover tape.
Man, I had forgotten Aliens!
The U.S. version of Aliens sucked though, a series of mediocre mini-games.
Glad to see Lightforce (surprisingly) in there which I agree with. Manic Miner in top 2 I agree with as well but I would have *Lords of Midnight* either 1st or joint first with Manic. Both are examples of _perfect_ game design.
Worth a mention: although it was technically a bit inferior to versions for other computers I would have *Elite* well up the list. Actually, I think the basic line graphics on black gave the Spectrum version a great outer space feel.
Omg, this brings back memories. Spent countless hours in all of these games.
Maybe these were in the top 40 but a few classics I played and enjoyed more than most of those are.
The Hungry Horace games, like Horace goes Skiing
The Dizzy games (mentioned, I know) especially treasure island dizzy.
Halls of the Things
Match of the Day
Daley Thompson’s Decathlon, even though that game broke my keyboard.
No Green Beret? I'm devastated
i never knew there was a follow up to Skool Daze in Back to Skool. I feel my childhood wasn't complete now as loved Skool Daze. I did love Bruce Lee, Turbo Esprit, Way of the Exploding Fist, Chase HQ, Chuckie egg, Matchday, Kokotoni Wilf, Manic Miner, Airwolf, Rambo ...so many memories
It's my favourite Spectrum game, absolute masterpiece.
Back to school is my absolute favourite followed by turbo esprit. The feeling of escape and being able to break the rules was revelation!
Those sound effects! Took me right back to my teenage years... Ive got my 48k in a cupboard still with loads of original games!
I'm fairly certain 3D Deathchase was 16k which was nuts,great game.
Correct, an incredible achievement!
surprisingly awesome game
Elite would have been top of my list.
Glad to see Atic Atac on this list. It was basically the game that made me took programming first as a hobby, and now as my career.
That F1 game from CRL is the only one I hadn't played before. I'll look it up.
Suprised to not see any spanish game, though. They made some really amazing games back in the day, such as Abu Simbel Profanation, La Abadía del Crimen, Stardust, Mad Mix Game, etc.
Other games worth being mentioned could be Match Day II, Ping Pong, The Way of the Exploding Fist, Three Weeks in Paradise, R-Type, Saboteur, Flying Shark, Fairlight, Head Over Heels, Alien 8... I could go on and on. 😁
Yes, Formula 1 was the only game I hadn't played in the whole top 40. La Abadia Del Crimen and Sir Fred got quite a few votes, but not enough to break in to the main list.
Oh, Fairlight, I'd completely forgotten about that one. I'm guessing it didn't make the list because not enough people hiring had played it, but it was a ahead of its time I think for the Speccy!!!
Completely agree with your top 3, they were cracking games and the 3 top games I thought of when clicking on this video!
Scuba Dive, 3D Ant Attack (+Zombie Zombie).. Lords of Midnight (+Doomdarks Revenge).. Fairlight and Elite.. These would probably have been in my top 10.
Was Scuba Dive the one that had a totally different game if you attached the speech add-on device?
all of my favourite moments in ZX Spectrum gaming were those moments where animation happened quickly and colour clash was circumvented by way of very clever arrangement. Maybe Jetpac and Manic Miner are the best. Brilliant
It's a system I haven't had the chance of having intimacy in its heyday, but later with emulation. (I was a Brazilian child who had his first videogame when he was 10 in 1991, and it was a NES clone.) I didn't vote before because I am not a big fan of the original system, specially in the sound department. But I find its minimal rainbow color pallete and, specially, its color clashes quite charming! I do enjoy its graphical resolution. My favorite ZX Spectrum system must be the 128k for sure, specially because of its sound improvement. Also, I have to say that, if I were Brit and living during its heyday, I'd buy the ZX Spectrum due to its affordability, but not prospecting to stay with it for more time... (It came to Brazil in the form of the TK-90, but it wasn't that well known in my region...)
Going to the games, that would be my Top 5:
5 - Deathchase (Very impressive game in its heyday, still simple and exciting to be played!)
4 - Robocop (The very best Ocean game I've played in any system... Manages to be even better than certain 16-bits computer adaptations! The music is iconic.)
3 - Target Renegade (Brilliant soundtrack, better in the gameplay than the previous, but great, one.)
2 - Jet Set Willy (Manages to be even more surreal and challenging than...)
1 - Manic Miner (It's such a perfect game in its learning difficulty curve and amazingly constructed in its platforming...! Being the very first game to have a real soundtrack for the 48k in its limited capabilities, you can't help but admire its pioneering effort in making melodic glitchy noise. It's avant-garde! By the way, is the copy that's shown in the video a later iteration with corrected soundtrack?)
Honorable mention: Knight Lore (An isometric game that's fun and intriguing in its development.)
I'm not surprised to see that The Deep didn't make the list, but it's worth mentioning...v
"I didn't vote before because I am not a big fan of the original system, specially in the sound department."
Sir Clive Sinclair, who designed the Spectrum, deliberately kept its audiovisual capabilities very limited in order to conserve precious memory (back then was memory for computers was extremely limited and very expensive; the first Spectra only had 16K of RAM, which before too long was expandable to 48K). Those earlier Spectra do not have a sound-chip, instead having sound done by the CPU; it was not until the 128K Spectrum debuted that the Spectrum gained a dedicated sound chip.
He also never originally intended the computer to be used for games, seeing it instead as an affordable home computer for simple business use. This, too, would have meant that flashy audiovisual presentation would not have been seen as important (as well as the UK having had a recession at the time of the Spectrum first coming out, meaning that a lot of people would not have been able to afford a home computer were it not for the Spectrum's existence and comparatively low price tag).
TK90X not well known in Brazil? This was my first computer here in Brazil in the 80's (i'm brazilian too) and i remember very well it was everywhere, every store or shopping center.
TK90X, TK95, MSX Expert, MSX Hotbit, all of them were famous in Brazil.
Here is my incomplete list of favorite zx-spectrum games:
Target Renegade, Renegade, Flying Shark, Terra Cresta, War, Slap Fight, Green Beret, Ikari Warriors, Rex, Rick Dangerous 1 & 2, Dan Dare 1 & 3, Nebulus, Dynamite Dan 2, R-Type, Arkanoid, Arkanoid Revenge of Doh, Pacmania, Exolon, Chase HQ, Colony, Motoracer, Out Run, Chevy Chase, Light Force, Scooby Doo, Batty, Bombjack, Ironman Super Off Road, Scooby and Scrappy Doo, Cybernoid 1 & 2, Into Eagles Nest, Freddy Hardest, Bounder, Firefly, Myth - History in The Making, Batman, Batman - The Caped Crusader, Batman The Movie, Head Over Heels, Stallone Cobra, Anarchy, Jack The Nipper 1 & 2, Dizzy series, Ghouls'n Ghosts, Ghosts'n Goblins, Rainbow Islands, Pang, Ms. Pac-Man, Yogi Bear, Yogi's Great Escape, Stop The Express, Last Ninja 2, Bruce Lee, Maze Mania, Rockman, The Way of Exploding Fist, Movie, Desperado, Rogue Trooper, The Way of Tiger, Commando, Chessmaster 2000, Cabal, Pro Mountain Bike Simulator, Sai Combat, Neter Earth, Great Gurianos, Wec Le Mans, Astro Marine Corps, Rolling Thunder, The Great Escape, Top Cat, Avenger, Barbarian, Stormlord, Hong Kong Phooey, Gryzor, Match Day 2, Operation Wolf, The Addams Family, Shadow of The Beast, Rambo 3, Rodland, Yie Ar Kung Fu, Savage, Action Force 1 & 2, Army Moves, Navy Moves, Shao Lin's Road, Combat School, Who Dares Wins 2, Plotting, Heartland, Mickey Mouse, Thundercats, Crystal Castles, Rock'n Roller, Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, Saboteur 1 & 2, Nosferatu, Hydrofool, Scuba Dive, Postman Pat 2, Ninja Hamster, Spy vs Spy, Turbo the Tortoise, Potsworth & Co., Atom Ant, Cauldron 1& 2, Hysteria, Tornado Low Level, Cyclone, HATE.
Daley Thompson's Decathlon, Head Over Heals, The Great Escape, and Football Manager. Happy days😀
This was my childhood on a 128k! The first game I ever completed was fantasy land dizzy, I loved The New Zealand story, all the dizzys especially spellbound, chuckie egg 1&2 and rainbow islands. I got the mags with tapes (The great 8) from Ocean and Sinclair User. I had 1427 seperate tapes some with 50 games on em. ah the good old days! LOAD""
from memory it was the "J" key for load wasn't it?
lol, I never completed any game ever :(
I loved the sounds and simplicity of Knight Lore. That kindaof monochromatic theme and perfect isometric pov
My favourite was Desert Rats and Vulcan by CSS (still play them occasionally on a phone Speccy emulator), I understand that those will not make into "all around best" compilation but it's for sure one of the best strategy games for ZX.
So true, me and my best mate spent many weekends on those two. Also look up ancient battles by CCS a really good miniatures style battle sim.
I was just about to post the same, plus Arnhem, which was my favourite.
Always had a soft spot for Kokotoni Wilf for some reason!
I remember the advert said it was as good as Jetset Willy. It wasn't of course, but I enjoyed playing it too.
I remember us playing Back to School round your house back in the day, such a great game, was gutted it was never on Amstrad. Should have been higher.
I used to play ELITE for hours (if I could get it to load and work out the code with the special lens.!) I'm still playing the newer version on the XBox and I'm in my 50s now ;-)
Loved it. Missed Green Beret, Rambo, Way of the Exploding Fist too many good games though...........Well Done.
Chuckie egg 2: is like a dream, such a bizzarely long game for its genre, makes JSW2 seem short.
Cauldron 2. great fun.
suprised no dizzy games made the top 20.
River Rescue! I always went to my mate’s house to play games after school. His sister was really nice. River Rescue was the only game she would join us to play. 🥰
Man it hurts not seeing Saboteur on it. Great list though!
Saboteur was 25th
I can't believe how had this list is. No Super Robin Hood, Rick Dangerous, Dizzy, Ghouls and Ghosts, Daley Thompson's Decathlon, Outrun, Rainbow Islands, Green Beret and Super Stuntman.
Chuckie Egg and , Bruce Lee were awesome!
Death Chase 3D holds a special place in my heart December 83 Xmas eve my parents let me stay up well into xmas day to play this game whilst xmas songs were playing in the background and mum and dad preparing the xmas spuds and veg...
Pajamarama, head over heels,back to school was one of my favourites. Great escape.
I'd agree with most of this, espcially 1 and 2, I might have added Frank N. Stein somewhere in the late teens and Robin of the Wood mid pack.
My favourites were Daley Thomsons Decathlon and Pyjamarama.
My first computer was the good old Sincliar ZX81 it took me 1 hour to build and after a while i built a keyboard and memory expansion. My next one was the ZX Spectrum then came Commodore 64 and many more computers after that and now i repair and build computers and laptops as a side line now iam retired at 70.
Ant attack, Dizzy, great escape and Bloodwych
Moon Cresta is a surprise as I thought it was a great arcade conversion (and probably) ONLY ONE OF LESS THAN A HANDFUL OF GAMES I COMPLETED. There was a prize if you sent the secret message to the publisher. I played every morning before school and evening after and sent off my entry........never won, but can stil remember the dah - dah, dah - dah, dah - dah dededar music. It seems I moved to 800XL about 84/5 and Amiga 86
I was really expecting R-Type to be in the top 5! 😱
I think a top 20 is not enough! You would need at least a top 60 to cover all the outstanding ZX games.
What about "Everyone's a Wally"? I loved the idea (original at that moment) of switching characters at any moment to do a specific task.
I was just checking to see if anyone had mentioned any of the Wally games! Pyjamarama too!
Haha…do you remember the song on the b side of the tape?